Homeowners in the area near Juniper Ridge have been fighting those plans -- and ultimately the commissioners will have the final say.

Tom Hignell who lives along the canal invited the three county commissioners to come out and have a look at what they would be piping.

"I mean a lot of people have come out and lobbied hard like Trout Unlimited, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, PGE, the River Conservancy and even city council. To our knoweldge, these people making these arbitrary decisions have never come out. So we appreciate county comissioners with their busy schedules have come out to see for themselves."

Hignell told the commissioners piping the canal would hurt their property values and only benefit COID.

"This is the tactic -- saying look over here, we're conservationists. But what they want to do is destroy our neighborhood, put us in danger with an earthen dam. And they want power for their hydro electric dam. That's the real reason and people are being fooled."

COID is asking the commissioenrs to let the district bypass a long permitting process to pipe the canal.

The public hearing will be Wednesday night starting at 5:30 at the Deschutes Services building.